Linda Park, J. Michael Flynn Featured in Love in American Times 5/12-6/5

An experienced, talented cast takes on the age-old tradition of matchmaking with a contemporary twist in San Jose Repertory Theatre's world premiere of Love in American Times, by Philip Kan Gotanda. Love in American Times is directed by San Jose Rep's Artistic Director Rick Lombardo, and will run from May 12 through June 5, 2011. Press Opening Night is Wednesday, May 18 at 8 p.m. Proceeds of the company's iconic "Pay What You Will Night" on Thursday, May 12, will benefit victims of the Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Disasters.

Tickets are available at the San Jose Rep Box Office at 101 Paseo de San Antonio or can be purchased online at www.SJRep.com or by calling 408.367.7255.

The production's featured actress, Linda Park, was raised in San Jose and is best known for her portrayal of communications officer Hoshi Sato in the television series Star Trek: Enterprise. J. Michael Flynn is a well-known stage and television actor who also worked on the Star Trek franchise and has had successful appearances on San Jose Repertory Theatre's stage in Communicating Doors and A Flea in Her Ear.

In Gotanda's latest story, wealthy businessman Jack Heller has a pre-arranged meeting with sharp and accomplished Scarlett Mori-Yang. Sparks aren't the only things flying when these two driven individuals with intractable egos try to one-up each other on what could scarcely be called a "first date." With single-minded practicality and a pre-nuptial that looks more like articles of incorporation, it isn't long before dysfunctional chaos breaks out. Is there room for love when there's no shortage of money or power?

"It was a special joy to work with Philip on his play, and with this remarkable cast to bring these vivid and bold, contemporary characters to life for the first time on our stage," says Lombardo. "We are very grateful to The Edgerton Foundation for selecting this play to receive special funding which allowed us to develop and rehearse this play over a longer period of time - truly an important gift when bringing a new work to the stage."

Over the last two and a half decades, playwright Philip Kan Gotanda has been a major influence in the broadening of our definition of theater in America. In particular, Mr. Gotanda has been a leader in bringing the stories of Asian Americans to the nation's stages.

Gotanda is no stranger to San Jose Rep, Love in American Times marks the playwright's third world premiere with the company. The Wind Cries Many was commissioned and performed by the company during their 2002-2003 season and Sisters Matsumoto was produced during the 1998-1999 season. One of the Bay Area's best-known playwrights, Gotanda is also a filmmaker.

The Cast of Love in American Times

Arwen Anderson (SOPHIE/ASSISTANT EVELYN) is making her San Jose Rep debut. Other credits include An Accident, Mauritius, Mrs. Whitney, Expedition 6 and The Rules of Charity at Magic Theatre; A Streetcar Named Desire at Marin Theatre Company; Lobby Hero and The Shape of Things at Aurora Theatre Company; Tales of the City (workshop) at American Conservatory Theater; Nickel and Dimed at TheatreWorks; T.I.C. (Trenchcoats in Common) and Skin with Encore Theatre Company (San Francisco); and 4 Adverbs with Word for Word Performing Arts Company. Film work includes Hog Island, Ashley 22 and Dark Retreat. MS. Anderson graduated with degrees in theatre and psychology from Wesleyan University, trains and teaches aerial arts at the San Francisco Circus Center and will next be seen in the world premiere of The Verona Project at California Shakespeare Theater.

J. Michael Flynn (Jack Heller) last appeared with San Jose Rep in A Flea in Her Ear in 2002. During thirty-five years in the American theatre, he has worked on many stages, among them: A Contemporary Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Aurora Theatre Company, Baltimore Centerstage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Boise Contemporary Theater, Brooklyn Academy Of Music, Cleveland Play House, Goodman Theatre, The Huntington Theatre Company, the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Long Wharf Theatre, Magic Theatre, The Old Globe, the Oregon Shakespearean Festival, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Portland Center Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage and The Sundance Institute. His Hollywood career can be traced by pointing your browser to imdb.com.

Zarah Mahler (LYONEE/JAZZ SINGER/MRS. STEIN) recently appeared in the premiere of Futura at The Theatre @ Boston Court. Prior to that, she opened as Sally Bowles in Cabaret at the Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago. Other theatre credits include Neil Patrick Harris' Rent (Hollywood Bowl); Jules Aaron's The Threepenny Opera (International City Theatre); Havok Theatre Company's Kiss of the Spider Woman; Great Expectations: the Musical (Biddy) at the Hudson Theatre, The Odyssey Theatre and Florida Rep; Romeo and Juliet (Juliet) with Glendale Theatre; Metamorphoses (Myrrah) at Bronwyn Dodson Theatre, Fullerton College; and Les Miserables (Fantine) also at Fullerton. Ms. Mahler had a recurring role in television's Ghost Whisperer: The Other Side and guest starred on Animal Planet's series Lost Tapes. Film credits include Portal, Kemper, Leaving Barstow, Trick, Dizzyland and Clemency. Ms. Mahler, an accomplished singer/songwriter, is working on her first CD of original compositions.

Gabriel Marin (CHEESE MASTER/MR. STEIN/HECTOR) is delighted to make his San Jose Rep debut. His recent credits include Wirehead (Destry) and Landscape of the Body (Raulito) at The SF Playhouse; Collapse (David), Jack Goes Boating (Clyde) and The Devil's Disciple (Richard) at Aurora Theatre Company; Superior Donuts (Luther) at TheatreWorks; A Number (Bernard) and Noises Off (Garry) at Center REPertory Company; The Creature (Victor) with Black Box Theatre; To Kill For (Gavin) for San Francisco Fringe Festival; and A Streetcar Named Desire (Mitch) with Marin Theatre Company. Locally, he has also appeared at American Conservatory Theater, Bay Area Playwrights Foundation, Central Works, Magic Theatre, PlayGround, The Jewish Theatre, THICKdescription, Word for Word Performing Arts Company and Z Space. Mr. Marin was named Best Actor by East Bay Express in their Best of The East Bay 2010. He has performed on NBC, CBS, PBS and the BBC.

Craig Marker (EDWARD/ASSISTANT CALVIN WORTH) returns to San Jose Rep where he has performed in The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, Iphigenia at Aulis, The Foreigner and As You Like It. Regionally, Mr. Marker has performed for Portland Center Stage, La Jolla Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Aurora Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, TheatreWorks and Center REPertory Company. His Bay Area credits include critically acclaimed productions of Equivocation, 9 Circles and Seagull at Marin Theatre Company; Wirehead, The Story and First Person Shooter at The SF Playhouse; and Macbeth at Shotgun Players. Mr. Marker's television and film credits include Trauma; Bye-Bye, Bin Laden; Generic Thriller; and Night of Henna, and his voice work includes several characters in the video game Brutal Legend starring Jack Black.

Linda Park (SCARLETT MORI-YANG) is a native of San Jose and is thrilled to return to her hometown to work on this beautiful and collaborative world premiere. Her theatre credits include Elektra at The Getty Villa (directed by Carey Perloff); the world premiere of Roger and Vanessa, at Latchmere Theatre in London (directed by Robert Delamere); and Agamemnon at Vortex Theater Company (directed by Gisela Cardenas). Ms. Park has also enjoyed a successful television career, appearing as a series regular on Star Trek: Enterprise, Raines, Women's Murder Club and Crash, as well as guest appearances on Life, The Mentalist and House, M.D. Big screen film credits include Jurassic Park III, Infestation and Honor. Ms. Park is a graduate of Boston University's School for the Arts and is a member of A2 in Los Angeles.

Rosina Reynolds (ABBY/MRS. GREEN/SOMMELIER/DESIREE) is making her debut at San Jose Rep. She has performed in more than 40 productions in San Diego theaters, her home city. Regional credits include Sea of Tranquility, Romeo and Juliet and Trojan Women at The Old Globe; Doubt, The Clean House and Cymbeline at the San Diego Repertory Theatre; and Steel Magnolias at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts for Rigby-McCoy productions. Other San Diego credits include Long Day's Journey into Night (The Renaissance Theatre); Ghosts and Wit (North Coast Rep); Noises Off, Copenhagen, Little Foxes and Arcadia (Cygnet Theatre). She is the recipient of numerous KPBS Awards and four San Diego Critics Circle Awards. Ms. Reynolds has directed more than 20 productions in San Diego and she lectures at San Diego State University.

Vanessa Alvarez (UNDERSTUDY SOPHIE/FEMALE ENSEMBLE) is thrilled to be given the opportunity to join the talented team of Love in American Times at San Jose Rep. Some of her past work includes The Sea Gull (Masha) at San Jose State University; Filthy Rich and Of Corpse! with San Jose State University's Company One; Dog Sees God (Marcy) and Urinetown (Josephine Strong) with TRFT Independent; Once in a Lifetime and A Christmas Carol: The Musical at West Valley College; and Ragtime with Children's Musical Theater San Jose's Marquee Productions.

Jason Kapoor (UNDERSTUDY MALE ENSEMBLE) is returning to San Jose Rep, having appeared earlier this season as Gloucester in The Dresser. He is currently pursuing a degree in theatre arts at San Jose State University. Last summer, Mr. Kapoor performed with Shady Shakespeare Theatre Company in The Merchant of Venice (Morocco) and Much Ado About Nothing (Claudio). Credits with San Jose State University include Dog Sees God (Matt), Twelfth Night (Orsino) and The Colored Museum (Guy, Narrator). Born and raised in San Jose, Mr. Kapoor attended Bellarmine College Preparatory. This summer, he will travel to London for a Shakespeare intensive course at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

ARTISTIC COLLABORATORS

Philip Kan Gotanda (PLAYWRIGHT) has been a major influence in broadening the definition of theatre over the last three decades. Through his plays and advocacy, he has been instrumental in bringing stories of Asians in the United States to American theatre, as well as the stages of Europe and Asia. Mr. Gotanda wrote the text and directed production of Maestro Kent Nagano's Manzanar: An American Story, an original symphonic work with narration, and he is currently collaborating with tenor John Duykers on a new chamber opera, Apricots of Andujar. His play After the War premiered at the American Conservatory Theater, directed by Carey Perloff, and a Japanese translation of his play Sisters Matsumoto opened in Tokyo at the Kinokuniya Theater with the Mingei Geikidan Company. #5 The Angry Red Drum premiered last year with the Asian American Theater Company, directed by M. Graham Smith, and his newest work, I Dream of Chang and Eng, had its first production with the Theater, Dance and Performance Studies Department at the University of California, Berkeley, under the direction of Peter Glazer.

Mr. Gotanda is also a respected independent filmmaker; his film, Life Tastes Good, was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999. Among his many honors and awards, Mr. Gotanda is a 1990 Guggenheim Fellow in the field of Drama and Performance Art. He holds a law degree from Hastings College of Law and studied pottery in Japan with the late Hiroshi Seto.

Rick Lombardo (DIRECTOR AND ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is in his third season as artistic director at San Jose Rep, where he has directed The Dresser, Black Pearl Sings!, The Weir and As You Like It, which received nominations for outstanding production and outstanding direction by the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. He was previously the artistic director for 13 years at the award-winning New Repertory Theatre, the leading mid-size resident theatre in the greater-Boston area. In 2009, he was awarded the Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence from the Boston Theatre Critics Association for his work at New Rep. He is also the recipient of four individual Elliot Norton Awards and is a nine-time winner of the "IRNE" Award for his productions of The Clean House, Sweeney Todd, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, A Streetcar Named Desire, Ragtime, Waiting for Godot and The Weir. His world premiere of According to Tip transferred to Boston's theatre district in 2009, and his New Rep production of Bill W. and Dr. Bob enjoyed an extended run off-Broadway in 2007. In the New England area, Mr. Lombardo also directed at Opera Boston, the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater and the Actors Shakespeare Project, among others. He was previously artistic director of The Players Guild in Ohio, co- director of the theatre program at Fordham University's College at Lincoln Center, as well as founding artistic director of the Stillwaters Theatre Company in New York City. Mr. Lombardo is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and lives in San Jose with his wife, actress Rachel Harker, and daughter.

Robin Sanford Roberts (SCENIC DESIGNER) is returning to San Jose Rep, where she previously designed the sets for Sonia Flew, Splitting Infinity and This Wonderful Life. On Broadway, she designed It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues. Ms. Roberts' regional credits include moe than 24 productions for The Old Globe: The Price, Fiction, Blue/Orange, Da, and Old WickedSongs; Voir Dire and Scotland Road (directed by Craig Noel); and many others. She has also designed for Arizona Theatre Company, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Swine Palace Productions and Lincoln Center.

Cathleen Edwards (COSTUME DESIGNER) is delighted to return to San Jose Rep, having previously designed costumes for The Dresser and Sonia Flew. Well-established in the Bay Area, she has designed the costumes for numerous productions at American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, TheatreWorks and a number of other companies. Among her several awards are two Drama-Logues (Pacific Overtures and Follies) and two Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle awards (Pacific Overtures and Crucifer of Blood). Her work has been seen as far away as New York (Hard Times at the Joyce Festival), Alaska (Noises Off, All My Sons and Watch on the Rhine for Alaska Repertory Theatre) and Moscow (Desire Under the Elms at the Moscow Theatre Festival).

David Lee Cuthbert (LIGHTING AND MEDIA DESIGNER) returns to San Jose Rep, having most recently designed lighting and media for Legacy of Light. He previously designed scenery and media for Secret Order and As You Like It, and lighting for The Dresser, Rabbit Hole, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Groundswell and The Kite Runner, for which he received the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for best lighting of a play. He lit Billy Crystal's Tony® Award-winning 700 Sundays on Broadway, as well as its international tours. Mr. Cuthbert's work has also been seen at Opera San Jose, Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, Intiman Theatre, San Diego Repertory Theatre, The Old Globe, American Repertory Theater and Arizona Theatre Company. He is the theater arts department chair and an associate professor of design at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Tamara Roberts (ORIGINAL COMPOSITION AND SOUND DESIGN) is a composer, sound designer and performer. Credits include The House on Mango Street at Steppenwolf Theatre Company and assistant sound designer for Arabian Nights at Arena Stage and Chicago's Lookingglass Theatre. Other Chicago credits include Cymbeline (directed by Mary Zimmerman) at Northwestern University; The Overwhelming and The Busy World is Hushed at Next Theatre Company; In Arabia, We'd All Be Kings at Steep Theatre Company; Fast Forward at About Face Theatre; Dolly West's Kitchen at TimeLine Theatre Company; The Dark at the Top of the Stairs at American Theater Company; Three Sisters at Strawdog Theatre Company; and Machos, S-E-X...Oh!, Jarred, Quita Mitos and Lunaticas with Teatro Luna. Ms. Roberts is on the music faculty at the University of California, Berkeley.

Stephanie Schliemann (STAGE MANAGER) has worked on The Dresser, Ain't Misbehavin', Hannah and Martin, Sugar Plum Fairy and Tuesdays with Morrie, among others, at San Jose Rep. Other local stage-management credits include Flower Drum Song, Guys and Dolls, The King and I, Gypsy and The Wizard of Oz at American Musical Theatre of San Jose; Orson's Shadow at Marin Theatre Company; Le Nozze de Figaro and The Magic Flute at Opera San Jose; and Marcus, The Tosca Project, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, At Home at the Zoo, War Music, Blood Knot, The Circle and A Christmas Carol at American Conservatory Theater. She has also worked with Teatro ZinZanni and the San Francisco School of Circus Arts. Ms. Schliemann has been a proud member of Actors' Equity Association since 2005.

Kathleen J. Parsons (ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER) returns to San Jose for this production, having previously worked as the stage manager for Amy's View. Other companies she has worked for include The National Theatre of the Deaf, Access Theater, North Shore Music Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, The Pasadena Playhouse, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Musical Theatre of San Jose, Teatro ZinZanni and the Rubicon Theatre Company. Ms. Parsons is also the production manager for the California InterNational Theatre Festival.

About the Rep:
San Jose Rep is the premier non-profit, professional theatre company in the South Bay, presenting six main stage productions each year. Now in its 30th year as a major contributor to the South Bay's cultural community, San Jose Rep's mission is to engage, entertain and inspire people. San Jose Rep produces innovative theatrical performances that offer fresh perspectives into the human condition, educational programs that promote life-long learning, and outreach initiatives that benefit our diverse community. For more information, visit www.SJRep.com.

 

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